Mondailies

Good morning and a belated Happy Bastille Day (yesterday) to the many French forum members! Thanks for your help in the War of Independence!

Good to hear from Mark again, and it seems as though most of you had some great training and races over the weekend. Presumably those who did not check in had the best weekends of all.

Here is a QOTD with next year's Patriot's Day in mind:

Considering your planned pace for next year's Boston Marathon, how do you plan to run the first five, mainly downhill, miles of the race? Slightly faster, same pace as the rest of the race, or slower than planned average race pace? You can also answer by sharing an approach you have tried for this segment that you thought was either successful or not.

Track for me this evening for pyramids, and then recovery MLR tomorrow.

Time to head out for xc practice with the high schoolers. It has been raining for about 2 weeks straight and their home trail is loaded with poison ivy. The greenway is flooded. I think we will stay on the track today. Note to self: do not leave wet shoes from muddy trail race in car overnight !!

Burglar - I plan to go out easy...but what I plan to do and what I actually do don't necessarily correlate!!

Good morning, I am planning a nice easy 12 for today. We had enough rain last night to speckle the driveway and make the windshields dirty. Oh...cannot forget, enough to drive up the humidity in order for my run to be so delightful.

In the 5k on Sat #3 took second in her AG. She was beat by 3 minutes by a girl 18 months older than her, who also leaves the ag in a couple months. The course was a bit tougher than running around a track due to some rolling hills. After about 1 mile I do not think she was having very much fun. Summer swim ends this week so I will start giving her some hill repeats every other week.

Burg: My best Boston so far, at least in terms of how I felt, came when I ran the first 5 the slowest of all the miles. I will be looking at that strategy again. Nice going on your race Saturday.

Bart: Our rainfall total is down for the year. Usually by this time we have received at least one flooding summer rain. Funny how you have not been swimming yet that was where you whomped everyone.

CVB: Congrats on your 50k. I am amazed at the way you bounce right back up after those things. I think whack is one of my favorite words.

Morning. Up before work to get my run in. Back to the weekday routine, it is a bit easier when it becomes a habit. 5 easy miles today, even though for some odd reason the schedule calls for 3. This plan is a bit quirky, Saturday's LR was suddenly cut back to 10, but I couldn't cut back that much. Not sure what the idea behind some of these cutbacks. I guess everyone is at different levels in life, and I'm just not at that level. My last plan at 18/70 put me ahead of that. So I can't do a 3 miler today, even 5 seems pretty easy.

QOTD - I liked my pacing last year, though I really faded at the end on the hills. I think I need more hill training ahead of time, but that pacing was good.

BB - Pyramids should be a nice workout.

DrBart - Do not leave chinese food either.

Smoke - so if I do the math, does #3 leave her AG next year too? Having kids move up in AG, times moving right along.

Morning all! Back from a great weekend camping. Did my back to back 20s on Fri/Sat and was able to sleep in on Sunday and took the day totally off. Nice to just get away and enjoy the simple things in life with the family, like watching the kids have lightening bug races at night. Amazing how quickly the forget about things like iPads and Nintendo when they have an abundance of nature around. Will run a few easy miles tonight at group run.

For the QOTD - last Boston was my best race there (and best marathon time) and I think a big reason was that I stuck to my pacing strategy exactly & took it easy going up the hills. For entire race, my average pace was 7:10 and the first 5 miles were 7:25, 7:23, 7:00, 7:07, 7:10. For the initial rolling hills I went up a bit slower, then picked up the pace on the downside. I think way too many people get caught up in the early miles, go too fast, and by the time they hit the Newton Hills - they are toast.

Good morning. Slept in a little this a.m. Yesterday's run went really well. I felt pretty gimpy and awkward at first, but after 2 miles, I hit that sweet spot where my muscles were nicely warmed up and everything felt good.

BB - what is the structure of your pyramids? I think those are one of my favourite speed workouts. I need to brush up on my french history.

DrBart - I have learned pretty quickly to wash dirty shoes right away. Never ever leave them in a sealed space (like a car or a plastic bag). I made the mistake of a plastic bag a few months ago, ugh, that was awful. Congrats on the tri! Those shorter distance tris all seem like a mad sprint to the finish, to me.

Smoke - if I ran as fast as you, I would probably not bounce back as quickly. Congrats to dd#3! As far as her not having much fun after about 1 mile, well, that pretty much follows the rule of 5ks if you are running them right. Hope your headache is gone.

Maureen - I can usually get my shoes pretty clean. The problem is the silt/really fine mud that gets in all the little crevices and is essentially a fine layer of dust on the shoes/clothes. My bigger irritation is my clothing. Since we switched to a HE washer, I find my clothes sometimes come out with that fine dust on them, which makes me wash them again on heavy duty setting, thereby negating any chance of saving water. I can't do anything less than 5, mostly because I only feel warmed up after 2-3 miles so it doesn't make sense to run to the point of being warmed up.

Baker - not having water when it is that hot sucks. Yesterday was quite warm and humid, DH struggled to get his run done.

Multi - nice work on the run yesterday, especially after that brick workout the previous day. Seriously, there is so much doping out there, that it makes any results difficult to believe anymore. What a disappointment. Good point about the tour and seeing the scenery. I don't like to watch for the same reasons Spider mentioned, but it is nice to hear of the history and see towns that would otherwise not be showcased.

QOTD - I will probably run a touch slower in the first couple of miles (maybe 10-20 sec slower than MP). I like to use the first few miles to warm up, and if I tried to go faster than everyone else I would waste a lot of energy trying to pass people.

Smoke & EGeary - Ouch! Sure hope those headaches are gone or are at least much less.

Burglar - Good morning, and thanks for the start. Good QOTD!

DrBart - I HATE poison ivy because I break out badly. I'd stick to the track too.

Smoke - Awesome re DD3's 2nd in AG! 5k's are crazy tough to me.

Maureen - 3... wow. What plan is that? Yeah, that'd be a surprisingly short run.

Spider - Sorry for my ignorance... What's ladder day?

Hackker - Cool re the kids outside games.

CVB - I hate the warm-up... I feel SO much better once I get past that. I relate.

Marco - Cool re the BF running.

QOTD - The 1st 5 will be slightly faster... I practice downhill specifically for that. My HR governed races supported this and my best Boston performances also supported it. Some Jack Daniels outline for Boston supported this strategy as well (could provide that if anyone is interested). The only time it failed is when I went WAY too fast and I blew up around mile 22... I retrospectively looked at the HR data (which I wasn't following at the time) and it was SKY HIGH. Slightly faster is the best... blasting faster is the worst (slow is better than blasting faster in those first 5).

Maureen: No she barely made it in the AG this year so she will not move up until Jan 2015.

CVB: I have a nice little cocktail I put together for the really bad ones. 2 Fioricet with codeine followed one hour later by 10mg of Vicodin, followed 1 hour later by 5 mg more. Wipes the headache right out but does not help my running.

QOTD: Plan will be to run with power - same overall perceived effort, regardless of terrain, so the first section will probably be faster (but not ridiculously so). I'll try to hold back in the first mile and gradually build to race pace, but that's easier said than done. It's always tough to keep the first mile slow, unless you're in a corral for a slower time than your fitness.

Good news/bad news for the 5K I ran on Saturday. Bad news: my slowest 5K time in probably years, 20:36. I could present excuses such as a side stitch around mile 1 that only got worse, and uncomfortable humidity. The dew point was in the low 60s (hey, stop laughing easterners, that's pretty darn uncomfortable for us here). The reality was that I just wasn't in good racing shape--no zip in the legs. The good news? Although there were about 350 people there, it was not a particularly fast field, so I finished 8th overall and first in my 10-year AG. Got a nice custom-made ceramic pot made by a local artist as my AG prize. I guess the other positive aspect is that it was a good speed workout and my legs felt great on runs yesterday and today.

Mark: glad to see you back

Smoke: I share #3s lack of love for 5Ks

Burglar: from yesterday, I made that same mistake with the first mat once in a half. Ever since, I just keep running until I run out of mats.

Shreve: bummer about the foot, hope it heals faster than you're thinking

CVB: congrats on the 50K!

Hackker: It's great the kids could enjoy some quality nature time. I miss not having lightening bugs around here

QOTD: I try to run even effort: a little faster on the downhills, a bit slower uphill. I managed to do that this year for the entire race and got a 15 second negative split--my best pacing job ever, by far, in a marathon. I'd be elated if I could duplicate that next year.

here in Folsom. getting back in the groove. A little difficult since I won't be running for a while. Will work on other stuff for a while. Since I won't be able to improve my BQ I guess the earlier registration opens the better for my case.

BostonBurglar QOTD: Boston has been one of the best courses for me since I was injured the first time I ran and had no choice, but to go slow on the start. My pace is a little slower the than average the first couple of miles then gradually speeds up. My idea is that I am not using up any energy the first two miles and keep close to the average pace of my marathon. So I am really running a 22 or 23 mile race which gets me a little faster pace. I think it is more specific to me than most, but my two biggest negative splits are my fastest two marathons. One was Boston. So I definitely have to focus on a specific slower pace in the first few miles to succeed.

DrBart: Let me know all the poison ivy secrets. I feel sure I was brushing some on July 4th at Clingman's, but using the tecnu after worked. Not sure I could always remember to use it though. Maybe there is something to put on before hand also.

Maureen: You were talking about the hill training. I was having trouble keeping pace on the downhills this year and then I remembered I hadn't done any downhill specific workouts which I usually do when the downhills are strong. My uphills were great with bataan and the hiking.

CVB: Good to hit the sweet spot on your run. Hope I can get there in the

Hey gang. I'm glad I got in 8 this morning because it is HOT right now. 88 with a dew point of 72. Yikes! It was a sweat fest for me at 6:00 AM. Felt a little nauseous at breakfast after the run. I'm guessing its because I didn't drink enough. OK, I'll fess up. Didn't take water with me again. Didn't think I would need it for an hour run. Oh well.

BB - I've only done Boston once, so I am not the best person to ask. I normally like to negative split my races so at best I would use the downhills to be just at goal marathon pace.

smoke - I second what CVB said. You are probably doing it right if you are not having fun after mile 1.

spider - I'm sure you and others can top my weather update.

hackker - thanks for the garmin info. I always like looking at those.

cvb - I wish the metroparks near me have water fountains. I was looking for them on my run Sunday to no avail.

NoCo - congrats on the AG win!

mark - I've been able to get good HR data when I really tighten the strap. Got to get used to wearing it that tight again, but worth the good data on my hard runs.

I am following a Yasso plan, it's a 16/60 plan getting ready for Chicago. It has some solid speedwork, then some odd quirky things too. I am following the script really well, just doing the plan as written, but I couldn't bring myself to do 3 miles. I'm really just warmed up at 3 miles. Maybe during a taper.

Shreve - thanks for the link to the photos. Sounds like quite an adventure. Too bad about the foot.

NoCo - congrats on the AG win - custom made craft sounds like a cool prize!

Hackker - it's great that you were able to enjoy some R&R - a nice reward for the 20/20.

maureen - agree with you on the short runs. I know it's worthwhile, but sometimes I figure, "why bother?" That's kinda why I ended up with 8 yesterday - the Pfitz recovery cycle has 4-5 recovery runs for the better part of the first 3 weeks and I was going bonkers.

EGeary & Smoke - hope the headaches have subsided.

I must have been tired this morning. Slept through my 5am alarm and next thing I knew it was 5:40, so no Bikram. No running on the plan today, either. Will hit the gym after work for spin / swim. Today is day 57.